Future of MH370 search announced
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Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss has announced a redefined search area for missing flight MH370.

Sky News

26 Jun 2014

News

INVESTIGATORS believe someone in the cockpit of MH370 turned on the plane’s autopilot before it disappeared, as Australian search chiefs announced a new phase in the hunt for the missing airliner.

Transport Minister Warren Truss said it was “highly, highly likely” the missing Malaysian Airlines flight was on autopilot when it crashed into the southern Indian Ocean on March 8, becoming the “greatest aviation mystery in global history”.

The revelation that autopilot was activated raises further suspicion the plane’s disappearance was a mass atrocity committed by either the captain or copilot of the plane.

And investigators had yet another revelation, telling reporters it is believed the missing jet likely plunged into the ocean further south than the current search area.

Authorities have not been able to assess the exact point at which autopilot was turned on, but believe the Boeing 777 was operating on autopilot from the 1st arc — shortly after MH370 turned south past the tip of Sumatra — to the 7th arc in the southern Indian Ocean.

This came as Mr Truss announced the hunt for MH370 would return to the original search area, but would this time scour underwater.

An expert satellite working group has reviewed all existing information in order to define a search zone of up to 60,000 square kilometres along the arc in the southern Indian Ocean.

“The new priority area is still focused on the seventh arc where the aircraft last communicated with satellites,” Mr Truss said.

“We are now shifting our attention to an area further south along the arc based on these calculations.”

The new area is around 1,800 kilometres west of Perth and had previously been subject to an aerial search, which found no debris.

Until now, the most intensive search had been with a mini-submarine in an area further north, where pings believed to be from the plane’s black box were detected.

One of the relatives of a Chinese passenger on-board the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, burns incense as she prays for her loved one. Picture: APSource: AP

The area has now been ruled out as the final resting place of MH370. The source of the noises is unknown.

Flight MH370 went missing en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8.

The Boeing 777, carrying 239 people, is believed to have veered far off course and crashed into the southern Indian Ocean but an extensive search in a remote stretch of ocean off Western Australia has found no trace.

A bathymetric survey — or mapping of the ocean floor — continues and will be followed by a comprehensive search of the sea floor from August, which could take up to 12 months.